Cross the Moon
Mar. 31st, 2022 08:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingCross the Moon is a visual horror novel about a near-future dystopia in which a fraction of the moon has shattered, an event concomitant to the appearance of vampires. No one knows why people suddenly began displaying symptoms of vampirism, but those affected have become a disadvantaged underclass of society.
The story follows two mixed-race vampire siblings and a Japanese detective through the streets of L’Amour, a French city that hosts the headquarters of a corporation called bloodFLOW, a leading producer of artificial blood and scientific research relating to vampires. Although the game begins as a standard murder mystery, it gradually expands into the territory of cosmic horror.
I have two criticisms of the writing, which I think are worth noting if only because I see these issues pop up so frequently in recent speculative fiction written by authors who are trying to be sensitive to diversity.
First, there is a clear dichotomy between the characterization of white women and women of color. The women of color are all brave and noble and virtuous, while the white women are all weak and boring and merely accessories to the plot. While the male characters are allowed to be interesting and morally gray, the female characters are either heroines or hand puppets. Although I’m always happy with more female characters, I would have been happier if a few of the strong/weak pairs of women had been combined into a single character with greater complexity. It's okay if people who aren't white behave poorly and make bad decisions.
Second, the story’s treatment of race is extremely awkward. Every once in a while, the flow of the narrative will be broken by one of the characters reflecting on their racial identity in a way that has no bearing on the events unfolding in the plot. To give an example, one of the main characters is very self-aware of her identity as Black, but she only sees her race as a source of social and professional discrimination. She doesn’t take any joy or pride in being Black, nor does she have any Black friends. There’s nothing in her home life or her public persona that references French-African culture. Furthermore, the Hispanic heritage she gets from her father’s side is completely absent from the story. This is very much an Anglo-American writer’s understanding of race: that it only exists as a stigma in a society that is by default white-dominant.
I don't want to put either of these criticisms in the longer review I'm writing about the game, as both require a lot of unpacking. Also, it's a really good story. The problematic elements bothered me not because they're egregious (because they're not, or at least they're no worse than in any given Stephen King novel), but rather because I see them so frequently that I'm starting to get annoyed. In the end, I appreciate that the author was trying to be a decent human being, and I want to write a 100% positive review of the game so that perhaps more people will give it a chance.
The story follows two mixed-race vampire siblings and a Japanese detective through the streets of L’Amour, a French city that hosts the headquarters of a corporation called bloodFLOW, a leading producer of artificial blood and scientific research relating to vampires. Although the game begins as a standard murder mystery, it gradually expands into the territory of cosmic horror.
I have two criticisms of the writing, which I think are worth noting if only because I see these issues pop up so frequently in recent speculative fiction written by authors who are trying to be sensitive to diversity.
First, there is a clear dichotomy between the characterization of white women and women of color. The women of color are all brave and noble and virtuous, while the white women are all weak and boring and merely accessories to the plot. While the male characters are allowed to be interesting and morally gray, the female characters are either heroines or hand puppets. Although I’m always happy with more female characters, I would have been happier if a few of the strong/weak pairs of women had been combined into a single character with greater complexity. It's okay if people who aren't white behave poorly and make bad decisions.
Second, the story’s treatment of race is extremely awkward. Every once in a while, the flow of the narrative will be broken by one of the characters reflecting on their racial identity in a way that has no bearing on the events unfolding in the plot. To give an example, one of the main characters is very self-aware of her identity as Black, but she only sees her race as a source of social and professional discrimination. She doesn’t take any joy or pride in being Black, nor does she have any Black friends. There’s nothing in her home life or her public persona that references French-African culture. Furthermore, the Hispanic heritage she gets from her father’s side is completely absent from the story. This is very much an Anglo-American writer’s understanding of race: that it only exists as a stigma in a society that is by default white-dominant.
I don't want to put either of these criticisms in the longer review I'm writing about the game, as both require a lot of unpacking. Also, it's a really good story. The problematic elements bothered me not because they're egregious (because they're not, or at least they're no worse than in any given Stephen King novel), but rather because I see them so frequently that I'm starting to get annoyed. In the end, I appreciate that the author was trying to be a decent human being, and I want to write a 100% positive review of the game so that perhaps more people will give it a chance.
